


the beauty of waves against the shore

by rarmaster



Series: my body is an orphanage [4]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Gen, KH2 except it's a narrator AU, Xion-centric tbh, i....... retconned the name bullshit but this is cute so i'm not rewritting it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-28
Updated: 2017-04-28
Packaged: 2018-10-25 03:14:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10755582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rarmaster/pseuds/rarmaster
Summary: Sora makes his way through Hollow Bastion for the first time. Meanwhile, Ven and Xion workshop a nickname for her, since no one can actually hear the wordXionnow thanks to bullshit magic.





	the beauty of waves against the shore

**Author's Note:**

> don't look at me it hasn't been a hundred years since the last MBIAO what are you talking about

They were in Hollow Bastion. Or rather, _Sora_ was in Hollow Bastion. Ven and that girl-who’s-name-they-literally-couldn’t-know were chilling in Sora’s heartspace, per usual. It was the girl’s lack of name—and the desire to come up with _something_ to call her—that had brought Ven and the girl to the position they were in now: Sitting at a table Ven had conjured.

The table was white-ish, with some gold accents, most of the time. Things in the heartspace were not always constant. The fact that the table and the matching chairs were corporeal was accomplishment enough, in Ven’s opinion. If this had been his own heartspace, he probably could have done a lot more. But it wasn’t his, it was Sora’s. Ven could exert influence, but he couldn’t completely shape it to his desires, which… was probably for the best.

Anyway, the table rested on the stained glass that heartspaces liked to take the shape of. Ven sat at one “end” of it (it was circular), and the girl sat across from him.

“Okay, so,” Ven said, putting his hands out in front of him. “You don’t have, like, _any_ name anyone has ever called you, other than your actual name? No fun nicknames?”

The girl shrugged. She looked a little uncomfortable, fiddling with her hands under the table. “Not… really?” she answered. “I mean, I guess there _were_ a couple of things that the Organization called me, but… I’m not really comfortable with them…”

“Then forget about ‘em!” Ven said, hastily, grinning from ear-to-ear. He was hoping his laid-back attitude would maybe calm her nerves. “We ain’t gonna call you anything that you don’t like!”

Her face scrunched up, and she met his eyes. “Yeah, but what other ideas do you got?” she challenged.

“Hmmmm….” Ven rubbed at his chin, thinking about it.

He only had to think about it for a moment before he thought of something that might work.

“What about Shelly?” he asked.

She started, surprised by the suggestion.

“What??”

Ven shrugged. “I mean, you like seashells. Seemed like it might be a good idea.”

It was definitely a good starting point, in Ven’s opinion.

“I mean.” The girl slowly narrowed her eyes, leaning closer to him to consider him. “How did you know I like seashells?”

“ _Oh_.” Ven laughed nervously, reaching up to tug at his ear. “Things just… get a little blurry in here,” he explained. It wasn’t like he’d gone _looking_ into her head or anything, the information had just presented itself to him. “Look: What’s my favorite ice cream flavor?”

She scowled at him, like she couldn’t see how that was relevant—

But then her eyes widened.

“Strawberry,” she answered.

Ven grinned, leaning onto the table.

“See!! _See!!!_ ” he said.

The girl pulled her eyes away from the distance, and met his face again. “Is it good?” she asked, genuinely. “I’ve never had strawberry ice cream before.”

“Whaaaaaaaaaaat!!” Ven dragged the sound out, leaning even further onto the table towards her. He couldn’t believe it.

The girl shrugged. “I mean, I’ve really only ever had sea-salt ice cream before? Oh! And chocolate, that one time.”

Ven slowly pulled himself back upright, though his hands still rested on the table.

“I’ve. Never had sea salt,” he said.

Now it was the girl’s turn to look absolutely dumbstruck.

“WHAAAAAT!!!” she exclaimed. She didn’t throw herself halfway onto the table like Ven had, but her jaw hung open as she stared at him. After a second of what must have been horror—not that he blamed her; how could she have _never_ tried strawberry ice cream!?—she turned her head upwards, kind of. It was unnecessary to do this, but a habit that Ven found even himself doing. “Sora, oh my god, go back to Twilight Town right now,” she called.

“What, no, we’re gonna go to Disney Town,” Ven argued. He directed it at Sora with his heart, or whatever, though he kept his eyes fixed on the girl before him. “They have the _best_ ice cream shop,” he told her, though Sora probably heard. “They’ve got this thing called Double Crunch and it’s got all this fruit? And it’s _soooo_ good, it’s like the best ice cream I’ve ever had.”

The girl looked at him like she didn’t believe him.

‘ _Kinda busy right now, guys,’_ came Sora’s distracted reply. ‘ _But I guess maybe when we finish up here in Hollow Bastion?’_ Then Sora came to a full stop. ‘ _WAIT HANG ON, CAN YOU EVEN TASTE ICE CREAM WHEN YOU’RE, LIKE, INSIDE OF ME???_ ’

Ven laughed.

“Yeah, yeah!! It’ll work, trust me.”

There was another span of silence, as Sora considered that—or maybe Donald yelled at him to get back to fighting Heartless? It was hard to tell, exactly what was going on in Sora’s surroundings when they were rooted so deeply in the heartspace. Had Ven not been focusing on the table, and trying to keep the chairs physical enough to not drop them on their butts, maybe he could have made more sense of it.

Anyway.

‘ _Okay, yeah, fine. When we have time, I guess?’_ Sora said. ‘ _When we have time_.’

“I’ll try your stupid ice cream so long as you try mine,” the girl told Ven, waving a finger at him.

“It’s not stupid, but deal,” Ven answered. He put his hands back on the table, leaning towards her a tiny bit with anticipation. “Anyway… What _do_ you think of Shelly?” he asked. Another idea occurring to him, he followed up with: “Or, just Shell, I guess? If you want. I think… I think Aqua’s cousins went by Shel, actually? Short for Michelle. So it’s technically a _real_ name. Not that that matters.”

The girl drummed fingers against her chin, seeming to consider it very seriously.

“Hmmm…” Ven waited, patiently, until the girl finally looked up at him and said: “I dunno.” She sighed and shook her head. He got the sense she wasn’t really feeling it—things like emotions blurred a little in the heartspace, too. She smiled brightly at him. “It’s a good back up, though!”

Ven grinned back, happiness swelling in his chest. It wasn’t exactly a proper compliment, but he basked in it nonetheless. This felt like a really, _really_ good start.

❤ ❤ ❤

 

It wasn’t that Sora _minded_ his backseat companions. It was just, he discovered, much, much, _much_ easier to get distracted when there was more than one set of thoughts in his head. He was supposed to be meeting Leon at the Bailey, but instead he was looking around Merlin’s house. Wanting to look at one thing turned into studying Merlin’s belongings with probably more interest than he had any right to?

Behind him, he heard Donald complain about him needing to hurry up. Goofy hushed him, though, with a “Aw, give him a minute, you know how he is.” Sora wasn’t sure if he should get offended at that, or??

He didn’t have the chance to.

‘ _Is that BEARD HAIR?’_ the girl asked—Sora still didn’t know her name, and that was driving him nuts—and here he was staring at Merlin’s pillow double checking if it was beard hair and?? This was a little embarrassing.

_Okay, I need to not be poking at Merlin’s bed,_ Sora thought at her, pulling his body away, which took more effort than he thought it probably should have.

That was when Ven noticed the stack of books on the dresser at the end of Merlin’s bed. They had complicated titles in Latin, which Sora didn’t even know he could recognize. Apparently, Ven could—because he spent a minute or so trying to decipher the words into something recognizable. He got through one title (some complicated thing about magic which Sora promptly forgot after Ven had said it) before Sora tugged him away. His head was starting to hurt, and he didn’t have time for this.

He was about to turn to Donald and Goofy and tell them he was ready to go, but was promptly felled by his own dang curiosity.

There was a little machine thing on one of Merlin’s tables. Sora’s mind honed on it like a beacon, and he gravitated towards it. Luckily (or not-so-luckily?) his companions’ minds also focused on it. It was a small thing, made of glass and copper, puffing smoke and filled with what might have been liquid.

_Wonder what it’s for…_ Sora mused.

‘ _Looks like potion making?’_ the girl suggested.

‘ _Definitely magic,’_ Ven agreed.

‘ _No duh, since its owned by a wizard._ ’

‘ _Oh gimme a break!_ ’

“Potion-making, huh…?” Sora muttered, poking at it. He didn’t even realize he’d spoken aloud. Thankfully, he’d spoken very quietly, so no one heard him.

‘ _Could just be for spells and things, though,’_ Ven said. ‘ _Sometimes more complicated spells require really specific ingredients.’_

_I kinda liked the potion-maker theory,_ Sora argued a little wistfully. At least this time he did it silently. _I mean, what else is this liquid for?_

_‘Could be a really specific spell requirement!!’_ Ven argued back.

‘ _I don’t see why it—Oh my god, forget it, don’t you have somewhere to be Sora,’_ the girl said.

Sora jolted. “Oh shoot,” he said, doing a 180 as fast as he could so he absolutely could not get distracted by anything else. “Sorry,” he told Donald and Goofy. “I’m done now! Let’s go.”

Donald ran a hand down his face, grumbling: “Finally…”

 

❤ ❤ ❤

  

Xion sighed a little, not looking directly at Ven. He was sitting sideways in his chair now (the chairs had changed style and color in the past ten or so minutes), one arm resting on the table, leaning towards her. She ran her thumbs together in her lap.

It wasn’t that she was nervous, exactly. Xion just couldn’t say she particularly enjoyed this conversation, though it had to get done. Since neither Sora nor Ven could use her real name, they had to come up with something else to call her—it was important.

So she let Ven bounce ideas off of her, and tried to be as helpful as she could.

“Okay,” Ven said. “It’s a longshot, I think, but… _Ven_ is just the first half of Ventus. Think we could do that with your name? Just shorten it?”

Xion shrugged.

“I mean… maybe? It was already pretty short. But, like—” She hesitated here, wetting her lips nervously. Would he be able to hear even just a portion of her name? “Sh- Shi?”

“Oh!!” Based on Ven’s genuinely surprised reaction, he must have feared the same. Slowly, he broke into a grin, bouncing excitedly in his chair. “Shi! That’s kind of a nice sound.”

“Kind of short, though,” Xion mused, with another sigh.

‘ _Reminds me of the waves…’_ Sora chimed in—it made Xion feel warm ( _she’d made that comparison, too_ ) but _how_ long had Sora been listening in!? He had more important things to be doing!

“Sora, focus!” she called at him, annoyed. “If those Dusks get through the barrier—”

‘ _YEAH YEAH, I KNOW!_ ’

Xion waited a second to make sure Sora was actually focusing on helping Leon. Ven did too, then he fixed his gaze on her.

“I guess _Shi_ is a little short,” he agreed. “But not like, too short to be a name? Technically.”

“I… think I want something longer,” Xion said. It didn’t feel like enough, on its own.

Ven nodded. “Okay! We’ll workshop it.”

 

❤ ❤ ❤

 

“Organization 13!!” Goofy shouted, in surprise. This was followed by a sound that Sora did not recognize but something inside of him did (the girl inside of him did).

Sora turned to the source of the sound and saw… six figures ( _Six!?_ ) standing on a nearby roof. The girl inside him sparked with intense confusion. Sora found himself squinting, even though what he really wanted to do was shout something at them.

‘ _I… why are so many of them here…_ ’ There was a slight fear in her, too, as well as the immense confusion.

Sora tried to offer her—something. But all he had was vague condolences. It wasn’t like _he_ had any idea, really.

“What a truly marvelous weapon, the Keyblade,” said the Organization member Sora thought was in the front. ( _‘Xemnas,’_ the girl supplied, at the sound of his voice.) “If only it were in… more _capable_ hands…”

‘ _He can’t mean?? ME??’_ the girl thought, or started to, but then her thoughts were derailed as the Organization started laughing. Sora thought it was a little rude (not to mention _forced_ laughter) but his body was too busy wrestling with the wave of utter disbelief coming from the girl to say anything. ‘ _Oh?? my GOD???’_ she managed to get out. ‘ _Why the… Wh- Why?? Why.’_

Sora sent the mental equivalent of a shrug at her, as the Organization vanished.

_You know them?_ he asked, since that seemed like the best question right now. She sure was acting like she did. (Ven was silent, wherever he was.)

The girl hesitated, but: ‘ _Yeah. Used to work for them,’_ she answered, after only a moment or so.

_HUH??_

_‘I’ll explain in a sec,’_ she said, probably meaning _when we have some actual privacy_ which was… fair. Sora looked to Donald and Goofy and Leon, mind churning for the best ways to get them that privacy.

He didn’t get far in his plans, though. There was that sound again— _the sound of a dark corridor opening_ —and then:

“Oopsie-daisy!”

The girl inside Sora’s heart bristled at the sound of his voice.

Sora rounded to find another Organization member standing not far away.

“What do you want, Xigbar,” he was saying before he realized it. Sora internally jolted with surprised, and it seemed the girl did too. Since when could she do that?? And, had she meant to? She felt too surprised for Sora to assume that.

“Well I’m just—” Xigbar began, and then he did a doubletake. He leaned in towards Sora. He had his hood up, but Sora got the feeling he was being studied very closely, could almost imagine the squint on Xigbar’s face thanks to the girl’s memories. “Wait a minute, how do you know my name?” he asked.

Xigbar seemed genuinely curious, if a bit skeptical. Nevertheless, the girl was backpedaling inside Sora. Seeing as Sora doubted she wanted to continue this conversation, he took the reins.

“Uh, lucky guess?” he tried.

“Nice try, Roxas,” Xigbar replied.

“Wha—?” Sora scrunched up his face. “ _Roxas_? Who the heck is Roxas??”

The girl recoiled inside him.

Xigbar just laughed. “Be a good boy now!” he called, before he left.

“What a weird guy,” Sora mused, as he slowly relaxed. He probed inside himself for the girl’s attention—since he didn’t have a name to call her ( _but she and Ven were working on that_ )—but… Pretty quickly he got the sense she didn’t want to talk.

That was alright. All of the questions he had to ask about the Organization could be asked later. There’d be plenty of time, all things considered.

He thought back to how they’d arrived here—six of them, just to stand around and laugh at him!—and chuckled a little. He wasn’t sure if he’d have realized the absurdity of it, really, had the girl not been here with him.

_What a weird group of people…_ he thought to himself.

 

❤ ❤ ❤

 

“You okay?” Ven asked.

Xion didn’t look up at him, arms crossed, thoughts boiling in her mind. “Fine,” she said.

It wasn’t like seeing the Organization had frightened her, really. It was more confusing than it was anything else. Why had Xemnas brought _all_ of them with him? Since when did Xemnas leave the Round Room!? And there had only been six—

But of course there had been. Axel was dead. She’d helped Roxas kill him.

Roxas…

It was thoughts of Roxas that troubled Xion more than thoughts of the Organization. She knew he was here, somewhere—he had to be—but trying to reach him was like trying to scoop water up with her fingers. She understood why he didn’t want to talk. She understood he didn’t want to be here, and she respected that.

It was just… hard. Keeping all she knew about Roxas bottled up somewhere Ven and Sora couldn’t see. She would, because if Roxas didn’t want Sora to know he was here, then she wouldn’t be the one to tell him. And even if she _could_ tell Sora who Roxas was...

Where to start? What to leave out? Say “he’s your Nobody” and leave it at that? It would answer most of Sora’s questions, but how much extra info she didn’t mean to tell would end up conveyed with it? Would Roxas want Sora to know how much he hated him, want Sora to feel bad because it was _his_ fault they were in this mess?

Did she?

Ven got the message that she didn’t want to talk, and went back to rolling out various variations of the sound “ _shi_ ” which he’d… been doing for the last ten minutes, probably.

“ _Shi…_ Shiaira… Sheena?” he muttered to himself, then shook his head. “Hmmm… Sheep?” He laughed a little at that. “Oh no, that’d be kind of cute.”

“No,” Xion told him. As cute as _sheep_ was as a potential nickname, it was no cuter than Shelly, and that at least meant something to her.

Ven studied her a second. “Got any ideas?” he asked.

Xion shook her head.

“I mean… You can choose any name you want now, you know?” Ven told her. “Doesn’t have to be based off your name, if you want. I know it’s hard to come up with something on the spot, and you can take your time but… Anything you want,” he said, with some kind of fierceness that seemed uncharacteristic to Xion’s ears. “Any name you want.”

Xion looked at him, considered his tight excitement that she could feel in the blurred boundaries of the heartspace. This… really meant a lot to him, for some reason. But…

“I just want… my name,” she answered, truthfully. “I liked it.”

If she could use it again, she would in a heartbeat. But she couldn’t, because that and her connections to everyone who’d ever loved her had been taken from her.

( _It wasn’t Sora’s fault. It wasn’t Sora’s fault_.)

“Oh…” Ven sobered pretty quickly.

Xion sighed.

Ven went back to working with the sound _shi_.

“ _Shi…_ Shy? Hmm…” He rubbed at his chin, head lowered. “Shya… _Shia_?”

Xion perked up. That… didn’t sound so bad, actually.

Ven noticed her interest, and repeated: “ _Shia_?”

“That’s… kinda pretty,” Xion said, and then whispered the sounds under her breath. They felt good together.

Ven leaned towards her, excitement bubbling up within him so strong that Xion could feel it without even trying.

“Do you like it?” he asked, eagerly.

Xion thought it over a second more, testing it out a few more times on her tongue. It was nothing compared to her real name, the name she wanted so badly to use but couldn’t, but… It was nice. And for now, it would do.

So she nodded at Ven.

“Yeah,” she said. “Shia. I like it.”

Ven beamed.

“Well! Then! It’s nice to meet you, Shia,” he said, sticking out a hand towards her. He’d gotten to his feet in his excitement.

Xion looked at him, and laughed. He was trying so hard to make her happy and she… really, _really_ appreciated that.

“Nice to meet you, too, Ven,” she answered in kind, shaking his hand. “And, um. Thanks.”


End file.
